Amazon to build third DC in Kansas City

The e-commerce giant will add an 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Kansas City, Kan. that will ultimately employ more than 1,000 workers, its second such facility to be slated for the area this year.    Amazon.com Inc. will build an 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Kansas City, Kan., KC SmartPort said in a statement.
   The facility will be the ecommerce giant’s third distribution center in the Kansas City area and the second to be announced this year. Amazon operates a 267,000-square-foot fulfillment center at Lenexa Logistics Center, and has already begun construction on another 822,000-square-foot facility at Logistics Park Kansas City in Edgerton, Kan.
   The latest project will ultimately add over 1,000 jobs to the local economy, and comes on the heels of planned investments by e-commerce companies that will create more than 4,000 jobs in the Kansas City market, according to KC SmartPort.
   In the last three years, e-commerce companies like Amazon, S&S Active Wear, FoodServiceWarehouse.com, ReallyGoodStuff.com and Jet.com have invested $150 million and built or occupied over four million square feet of warehousing and distribution space in Kansas City.
   Amazon’s newest Kansas City facility will be built on land previously owned by NorthPoint Development near the southwest side of Interstate 70 and the Turner Diagonal freeway. The project’s real estate developers include Cushman & Wakefield, Seefried Industrial Properties and USAA.
   “Amazon’s announcement validates the unique and valuable benefits of locating an eCommerce operation in the KC region,” Tim Cowden, president and CEO of the Kansas City Area Development Council said of the news. “When a company learns they can reach 85 percent of the U.S. population in two days from Kansas City, plus our robust highway, rail and air cargo infrastructure supporting the distribution industry, there is a very strong case for location in our region.”
   “In addition to our market’s competitive location and cost advantages, supply chain companies are drawn to our wealth of speculative development space,” added KC SmartPort President Chris Gutierrez. “More than 5.8 million square feet of speculative industrial space hit the market in 2015, and currently 6.3 million square feet of spec space is under construction.”
   KC SmartPort, an affiliate of the Kansas City Area Development Council, the regional economic development organization for the Kansas City metropolitan area, aims to promote logistics opportunities in the 18-county, bi-state region.